ABSTRACT
It would be very reassuring to know that the content and methods of primary science education were perfectly matched to the needs of children involved. Yet the more one reads and thinks about the complexities of such matching, the more ignorant one feels. One’s reaction is to become ‘paralysed’ into inaction, as a means of avoiding mis-match. Primary teachers without a science background, still the majority here in the UK as elsewhere, feel drawn towards that escape route, and no amount of well-meant exhortation is sufficient to encourage them. The naive hopes and certainties of curriculum planners and developers have so often been wrecked on the rocks of inertia and ignorance which still obstruct the way, towards a curriculum which not only meets the numerous demands made upon it but is also within the professional expertise and confidence of teachers. This is true both for us in Britain today and for countries struggling to become truly independent.
